Fury
"Fury" is composed of the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes of . It originally aired on April 7 and 14, 2002. A rogue Amazon, Aresia, recruits a new Injustice Gang in a scheme to wipe out the world's entire male population. Plot Part I At Gotham Biotech, a second Injusice Gang — Copperhead, Shade, Solomon Grundy, Star Sapphire, and the ninja Tsukuri — break in, led by an imposing blond woman. The woman removes a small plant culture from a secure vault, but on their way out they are confronted by Batman. He manages to subdue most of the Gang (though Tsukuri is a handful), but when he reaches the woman, she defeats him easily and knocks him unconscious. After the woman defeats Batman, she walks away. In a department store, Diana is wandering, frankly baffled by the fashions in vogue among modern women, and seeing instances of men's rude behavior. Batman finds her and tells her about the break-in, insisting that the woman's strength, and a piece of jewelry he grabbed off her, marks her as an Amazon. Diana says that's impossible – she's the only Amazon who's left Themyscira. Diana being banished, Batman dispatches Hawkgirl to the island to investigate. She is taken to Queen Hippolyta, who recognizes the jewelry as belonging to an Amazon named Aresia. Unlike the other Amazons, Aresia was born a mortal, in the outside world. As a child, she escaped her country when it was devastated by war, losing her family in the process. She fled in a refugee ship, but it was attacked by pirates at sea, then sunk. Aresia was the sole survivor, and drifted to Themyscira on a floating piece of wreckage. The Amazons adopted her, trained her in their arts, and magically gave her super-strength. During the Gang's next robbery, of a gem vault, Aresia purposely taunts the Justice League on the surveillance camera. She removes a large ruby from the vault, then is confronted by Superman. After defeating superman in combat, She throws a gas grenade that infects him with some kind of virus, then escapes. Diana, arriving late, recognizes Aresia, then flies Superman to the Watchtower while Green Lantern and Flash pursue Aresia. On Themyscira, Hippolyta and Hawkgirl find Aresia's room empty, with a hidden chest containing maps of the outside world, and books on germ warfare. A short time later, Lantern and Flash return to the Watchtower, affected by the same illness. While Batman is ferrying back Hawkgirl from the island, they hear radio reports of disaster striking in the city: men everywhere are being struck down by the virus, while female emergency works scramble. Part II Among the Injustice Gang, Grundy, Shade, and Copperhead have likewise been struck down. Aresia reveals to Sapphire and Tsukuri that her plan is nothing less than to kill off the entire male population of the world – which she sees as the source of all its suffering. While Batman, Hawkgirl, and Diana are doing their best to aid the emergency workers, Batman is likewise struck down. With him back in the Watchtower, and J'onn ministering to the male members of the team, only Diana and Hawkgirl are left. Aresia and her accomplices steal into a military base to appropriate a stealth bomber. Before they take off, they are confronted by Hippolyta, who has left the island to try and convince Aresia to stop. Aresia refuses, subdues Hippolyta and takes her prisoner. Diana and Hawkgirl are lured to the base by Sapphire, and are likewise unable to stop the Gang taking off, with Hippolyta on board. Hawkgirl finds a sample of the virus among their dropped things, but when she calls the Watchtower to alert J'onn, he has also been infected. Diana takes off after Aresia, who is planning to launch a set of cruise missiles into the atmosphere that will spread the virus all over the world. Hawkgirl joins Diana, and they board the plane. She makes one last effort to try and convince Aresia, who rages at her that men are worthless and the world will be better off without them. Hippolyta reveals that Aresia did not survive on her own, the captain of her refugee ship found her floating and held on to her while they both drifted across the sea. He died of exhaustion just as they reached the island, and was buried on Themyscira – the only man who lies there. Aresia is shocked, but it is too late to reverse her hatred of men, and initiates the launch sequence. As she fights with Diana, Hawkgirl rescues Hippolyta and then smashes the bay doors with her mace, jamming them shut, and leaving the missiles to fire inside the plane. Tsukuri and Sapphire bail, while Aresia hits Diana hard enough to knock her out of the plane. As Aresia tries to regain control, the bomber explodes with her inside. Aboard the Watchtower, the male members of the League have recovered, thanks to Hawkgirl finding Aresia's notes, allowing her to synthesize an antidote. Superman and Lantern are distributing the antidote in the City. Diana laments that Aresia was never exposed to men's world, or she might have seen that some of them have noble qualities – then reconsiders when she gets a sight of Flash's table manners. Continuity * Batman sends Hawkgirl to investigate on Themyscira, since Diana has been banished from there since "Paradise Lost". * Copperhead and Shade refer to their former membership in the first Injustice Gang, started by Lex Luthor in "Injustice For All" (that episode was produced before, but aired after, "Fury"). * Despite her scorn for certain modern female accoutrements, in subsequent episodes, Diana lears to adopt casual dress when not on duty. * The brief camaraderie between Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl is extinguished by the events of "Starcrossed". Background Information Production Inconsistencies * How does Hippolyta know so much about Aresia's story, to such great detail, if the captain that brought her ashore died upon arrival? * After Hawkgirl knocked Tsukuri out by shocking her with her mace, how did she appear aboard the plane so quickly? (when she came out, holding Hippolyta hostage, just after Aresia knocked Wonder Woman down) * Despite the paramedic clearly identifying the city in which the toxin is released as Gotham City, all emergency vehicles are based on Metropolis vehicles. Police cars retain their MPD shields, and officers wear MPD uniforms. * The first word of "Unites States Air Force Base" is misspelled "Unted". Trivia * First Appearances: Solomon Grundy, Copperhead, Shade, and Star Sapphire (in order of production, their first appearance is in "Injustice For All", but it was aired later). * Diana wanders through Bergduff's department store, a Gotham City branch of which was featured in , "Holiday Knights". * Hippolyta falls from the plane and has to be rescued by Hawkgirl, indicating that Diana is the only Amazon who can fly. * This episode marks the first time Diana is addressed as "Wonder Woman". * The episode implies Wonder Woman is virginal. After she makes a dismissive comment regarding men, Hawkgirl replies, "Don't knock it until you've tried it, princess." * This episode is titled after two DC Comics characters that went by the name of "Fury". The first version was Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor, an Amazon and daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. The second incarnation was Helena Kosmatos, a young Greek girl whose parents were murdered by the Nazis when they occupied Greece, while her brother collaborated with them. She made a pact with the Furies to become the host of the Fury Tisiphone and murdered her brother. She fought alongside Hippolyta during World War II, who was travelling through time as Wonder Woman. Helena eventually made her way to Themyscira and was made an honorary Amazon. The character of Aresia bears traits of both incarnations. * When Aresia throws the toxic bomb at Superman, his eye irises can be seen whitened for a moment, then they return to the "transparent" color of Superman's usual design. * The scenes where Batman stops the rogue bus and Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman save the helicopter from falling use a remixed version of part of the soundtrack from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, from the scene where Batman furiously chases the Joker through Arkham Asylum. * This is the second of two episodes in which Batman's distance from his teammates is emphasized; in "A Knight of Shadows", J'onn confides to Batman that he would give almost anything to see his dead family again, then adds that Batman couldn't possibly understand how that feels; here, Hawkgirl remarks that it is hard to imagine what being orphaned at such a young age can do to a child. Both comments are obvious openings for Batman to comment on the loss of his parents, but he doesn't take it. * The Lipstick Lady (in Part I) and one of the Paramedics (in Part II) is voiced by Vanessa Marshall, one of the previous candiates for Wonder Woman before Susan Eisenberg. Cast Quotes Fury